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- - People’s Trust for Endangered Species was set up in 1977 to save our wildlife. We are governed by a board of volunteer trustees and our team of staff are passionate about protecting endangered species and places.
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- - We strive to bring our most threatened species in the UK and around the world back from the brink of extinction. Our successes come from ground-breaking research, practical conservation and education, all with the help of our supporters.
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Wildlife
- Close
- - We protect wildlife in Britain and around the world by bringing our most threatened species back from the brink of extinction. We do this through ground-breaking research, practical conservation and education, all with the help of our supporters.
Wild places
- Close
- - Some habitats contain such a richness of life that we need to protect them at all odds. We are working to preserve ancient woodlands, orchards and wood pastures and parklands, as well as the countless species they support.
What we do
- Close
- - Everything we do is based on scientific evidence. We gather this through surveys, which you can take part in, and by awarding research grants to the most inspiring scientists worldwide. This evidence guides our conservation efforts and is shared through our events and publications.
Who we are
- Close
- - People’s Trust for Endangered Species was set up in 1977 to save our wildlife. We are governed by a board of volunteer trustees and our team of staff are passionate about protecting endangered species and places.
Success stories
- Close
- - We strive to bring our most threatened species in the UK and around the world back from the brink of extinction. Our successes come from ground-breaking research, practical conservation and education, all with the help of our supporters.
Get involved
- Close
- - There are so many ways you can help save endangered species. Fancy taking part in a survey, joining us on a wildlife event or becoming a regular supporter?
Shop
- Close
- - Support our work in our shop with a range of charity gifts, home-ware, cards and more. 100% of the profits go directly to help wildlife both in the UK an overseas.
Donate
- Close
- - There is nothing natural about the alarming rate at which we are losing animals and their homes. It is absolutely avoidable. We can stop the loss of our wildlife – but we need your support. You can act now by choosing to give to our cause. Thank you.

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Can you help me?

Dormice were once found all over the UK, but now we’re mainly limited to southern England and Wales. Our homes are disappearing and we can’t move around the countryside like we used to, to find food and friends. It’s become so bad that we’re vulnerable to extinction!

People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) wants us dormice to thrive across Britain once again. They’d planned to reintroduce us to a woodland in Cumbria in June, but it all got postponed due to restrictions imposed by the ongoing pandemic.

Hi, my name’s Hazel, one of 40 dormice set to be released into the wild this summer. While we weren’t able to make it to the woodland this year, PTES is now making up for lost time, with a bigger and even more ambitious plan to protect me and my friends. Over the next two years, they will release us at not just one, but three sites across Cumbria. We’ll be able to move between the three woodlands to find food and a mate. This will give us the best possible chance to flourish in our new home. Hurrah!

Without intervention, we could become completely extinct in northern England.

With your help, PTES will release me and a further 39 dormice in the summer of 2021 at one site in Cumbria. They’ll release another 40 the following year to an adjacent site, and ten more at a third site in the same year, to improve the genetic diversity of the reintroduced populations.

PTES can only make this far-reaching project happen with the help of kind supporters like you. Can you help with a donation?

Each reintroduction requires a huge amount of planning, resources, and expertise. Captive-bred dormice, like me, are initially placed in pairs in soft-release cages for ten days, in the hope that we’ll breed during this time. The specially designed cages have a small door which is opened on the tenth day so we can explore our new woodland home, returning to the safety of the cage whenever we want to. Local volunteers provide supplementary food for us, such as seeds, fruits, and nuts. They do this for a couple of months after the release, slowly reducing the amount they provide as we settle into our new home and find natural food.

As dormice experts, PTES has already reintroduced almost a thousand dormice to twelve counties. In eight of these counties, we’d gone completely extinct. PTES has provided over 20,000 dormouse boxes to hundreds of sites across England and Wales to support reintroductions and help with annual monitoring. All this is only possible because of generous supporters who, like us, trust PTES to do the upmost to protect dormice. Please make a donation today to help PTES get this ambitious project underway so that my friends and I can start our new lives in the country.

YES I’D LIKE TO DONATE

Thank you.